Gomi, Trigg and a Tournament Worth Watching

Tournament Worth Watching

MMA aficionados remain divided on Sengoku’s place in MMA. While
many have lauded the upstart promotion for its less gimmicky
booking and use of underrated and overlooked international
competitors, others have preferred the greater star power of Dream
and lamented the lack of interesting matchups for Sengoku’s
stars.

Now 10 months into its MMA project, World Victory Road bless us
with its fourth Sengoku offering Sunday at the Saitama Super Arena
in Saitama, Japan, which should more clearly crystallize Sengoku’s
home in the MMA universe.

Takanori
Gomi(Pictures) is back, and he is joined by a
cast featuring the muscle of Tagg Radio, two Olympic gold medalists
and one stone-cold South Korean. The road to Gomi begins, too, as
Sengoku kicks off an eight-man tournament with some of the sport’s
best lightweights you may have not yet seen, all vying for a crack
at the “Fireball Kid” and the chance to become Sengoku’s first
lightweight champion later this year.

If that’s not good enough for you, the promotion also has a
hilariously epic ring announcer with a set of pipes that would put
Bruce Buffer on the World Poker Tour permanently.

A guy with a glass eye against a rambunctious midget in spandex
pants may sound more like a scene cut from the “Family Guy” than a
high-level mixed martial arts bout. But make no mistake, Kitaoka
and French have earned their spots in the bracket.

French rides an eight-fight winning streak into the tournament,
including his King of the Cage title capture against Mac Danzig(Pictures) in January 2007. A former Eastern
Illinois University wrestler, he is coached by EIU’s most notable
alum -- longtime UFC welterweight champion Matt Hughes(Pictures). Incredibly, the still-improving
27-year-old prospect has compiled his 16-2 mark with a glass eye;
it’s hard to bag on a guy who schools dudes with a glass eye.

In opposition, he’ll find Kitaoka, a one time amateur Shooto
washout, turned Pancrase welterweight prospect turned
internationally intriguing lightweight. He was scheduled to be part
of Pride’s aborted 2007 lightweight grand prix but officially made
his divisional debut at Sengoku’s May offering, choking out rugged
Aussie Ian James
Schaffa(Pictures) in the first round. A combative
compatriot of Shinya Aoki(Pictures) and Masakazu
Imanari(Pictures), Kitaoka's aggressive and
outstanding submission game may make him the best pure grappler in
the tournament.

Although French has continued to improve in each outing, he’s in
for a stylistic nightmare. Kitaoka’s striking is still certifiably
terrible and a major sprawl-and-brawler could capitalize. However,
French doesn’t have that level of striking. The only way for him to
generate real offense is on the ground, where he’s almost dead
certain to get submitted. Kitaoka is also powerful enough to put
French on his back, which would signal a near-instant end to the
fight. While Kitaoka refuses to budge on his secret to submitting
foreign fighters, French will be unfortunately due for Kitaoka’s
guillotine-or-leglock ultimatum, and it may not take long.

A Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion with a few Brazilian national
wrestling titles tossed in for good measure, Damm is a serious
grappler who has put those skills to good use in his young career.
However, over his last three outings, Damm has focused on rounding
out his game and showing off his striking. Although that move did
not seem like the best tactical choice heading into a fight with
touted banger Jorge
Masvidal(Pictures) in June, Damm survived an early
knockdown to come back and drop “Gamebred” in the second round to
earn a surprising stoppage.

After abject mediocrity in his early career, Mitsuoka was an
unlikely candidate to do anything notable in the MMA world.
Instead, he has turned into a criminally underrated lightweight,
even in the wake of his upset victory last November over current
Dream king Joachim
Hansen(Pictures). Mitsuoka’s only blemish in the
last two and a half years -- a split decision loss to Kotetsu Boku(Pictures) last September -- was a silly
decision that ought to have swung the way of the massively improved
Wajyutsu product.

Mitsuoka’s striking is technical, but he sticks to textbook basics,
seldom going outside the jab, simple combos and low kicks. While
Damm has shown some power, he is not going to be technically
proficient enough to set up the KO on his own, and Mitsuoka won’t
be aggressive enough to give him the counter opportunity. However,
while both should be able to put together some decent strikes, the
battle will be won and lost on the floor. Damm is a great takedown
finisher and moves smoothly to dominant position. Mitsuoka has a
quick-and-deadly single leg takedown, good top control and great
ground-and-pound.

If it were in a cage, where he thrives with elbows and the ability
to dirty box effectively, I would be more inclined to pick Mitsuoka
to win. However, while the rule set does not make all the
difference in the world, in a matchup where the decision will
likely be razor thin, it will make enough of one. Damm should be
able to get some takedowns of his own, and when he does, he’ll
achieve better position due to his guard passing. The slight
positional variance should curry enough favor to win by a nose on
the cards and stamp the Brazilian as an early tournament
favorite.

Four years after a string of brutal losses robbed him of prized
prospect status, Schultz has stormed back to lightweight relevance
with a sensational six-fight winning streak and an International
Fight League title. After Schultz took a well-earned, workmanlike
decision over talented Deividas
Taurosevicius(Pictures) in May, MMA’s favorite team-based
money pit could no longer bear the bank-breaking burden and closed
up shop. However, Schultz was quick to parlay his recent run into a
sweet deal with Sengoku, including a spot in its lightweight
tournament.

Hype lost and re-found is a theme not lost on his opponent. An
All-Japan amateur Shooto champion in 2004 and a Shooto rookie
champion a year later, Hirota began his career at 6-0 and looked to
be part of the next generation of great Shooto lightweights.
Instead, he was soundly defeated when he stepped up in competition
against Takashi
Nakakura(Pictures) and Ganjo
Tentsuku(Pictures). After trading in the ropes for
the fence in Greatest Common Multiple’s Cage Force series, Hirota
has rejuvenated himself with three straight stoppages. He became
Cage Force’s lightweight champion with a brutal 60-second starching
of Tomonari
Kanomata(Pictures) in April.

Schultz is a favorite, and with good reason -- he is bigger,
stronger and a better wrestler. Although Hirota prefers to strike,
his body lock takedowns and ground-and-pound are parts of his
arsenal that will largely be nullified. Schultz has fantastic
takedown defense, great balance and does his best striking from the
clinch. Even if Hirota can stay off of his back, which is unlikely,
one of the major aspects of his game is essentially taken away.

If there is a hope for Hirota, it’s his hands. Incredibly, Hirota
has only recently started taping his hands for fights, a move that
has coincided with his three-fight KO streak. Schultz’s biggest
weakness in the past has been getting caught with heavy artillery
standing. If he’s too eager to flex his striking at range, Hirota
can blast him in the same fashion Chris
Horodecki(Pictures) and Bart
Palaszewski(Pictures) were able to. However, a lunch
pail-style clinch, takedown and ground-and-pound clinic is the
likely outcome, as Schultz takes a unanimous decision, although it
may not bring the kind of excitement that his training partner
Matt
Horwich(Pictures) would term “way awesome.”

A Grabaka product, Yokota and his Slovenian opponent, Kosednar,
arrive out of similar circumstance. Yokota quietly put together a
quality resume over his four-year career but is rebounding from his
first defeat as a pro. He was plunked by one half of this event’s
main event -- Seung Hwan
Bang(Pictures) -- who took Yokota’s Deep
lightweight title in May. Likewise, Kosednar put together six
straight victories to start his career, but “Zelva” was viciously
stopped by Paul Daley(Pictures) last month in his first step up
in class.

In only a year as a pro, Kosednar has developed a respectable level
of well-roundedness. However, he remains reliant on his Judo
background to get the fight to the floor and initiate his power top
game. Therein lies the rub for the 25-year-old, as Yokota, a former
Judoka himself, is stronger technically in the clinch with some
nasty throws of his own and should be able to stop Kosednar’s leg
attacks from the outside, forcing a stand-up fight.

While Kosednar’s stand-up has improved from his first bouts, he is
still very much a novice on the feet, as Daley showed. Meanwhile,
Yokota’s stand-up is far better than the loss to Bang would
indicate, as he has spent time in Thailand and beaten an A-level
kickboxer in Faldir Chabari in a Shoot Boxing bout.

Look for Yokota to show off his technical striking supremacy en
route to a comfortable decision. Yokota won’t be going past the
semi-finals, no matter who his opponent is, but he should be able
to at least acquit himself well enough in this bout to validate his
presence in the tournament.